OT: Paterno knew of Sandusky abuse in 1976
The PSU cultists will still defend him.
http://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/05/court_filing_says_joe_paterno.html
A new bombshell dropped in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal Thursday.It came in the form of a line in a court order on a related insurance coverage case involving Penn State, and its ramifications can't immediately be gauged.But that line was eye-popping in itself.The line in question states that one of Penn State's insurers has claimed "in 1976, a child allegedly reported to PSU's Head Coach Joseph Paterno that he (the child) was sexually molested by Sandusky."
Weinreb is surely furiously pumping out his next willowy introspection piece where he excuses everything with obfuscation against the backdrop of his idyllic Happy Valley upbringing.
PSU coaches AND administration did their best to sweep this under the rug from the get go. They are all despicable people. The one guy that did his best to report this was McQueary and he was demonized for it as many whistle blowers are.
Michigan has these cases in it's books. This problem happens everywhere. That football could be used in such a manner is heart draining.
To say more in this forum at this point is to say less. To say nothing is the problem.
PSU is dead to me.
About 11 years ago the wife and I ran into a 17yr old kid. He was working for a company doing work on the house and we would see him often. One day we got to talking and he confided why he was in our town. He had to flee his home
The boy had been repeately molested brutally raped and beaten by hi step dad...for years...The mother says she didnt know. He was so frightened by his step dad he kept quiet. One day the mother found out and went ballistic. kicked him out then and then a physical battle took place ending in her being shot in the leg and she lost her leg and of course he ended up in prison.
Long story short we took him and he became one of our family..after lots of therapy and love hes turned out just fine, married with a son of his own .good job normal life. To this day he calls me dad. But I can still tell hes scarred for life.
the ONE thing I cant get past in his whole situation is...WHY couldnt he be stopped? SOMEBODY had to have known...someone....and if Joe Pa knew and did nothing hes just as much responsible for all the lives that Sandusky ruined..
Much as I dislike Team Paterno and think they got what they deserved, the OP overhypes the current report, which is based on a one-line allegation buried in an old legal document. Worth investigating? Absolutely. Proof? Not even close. Just saying.
I think you're "underhyping" it. I understand there's a lot going on here, but the "one line allegation" is getting way too much play. It's a quick way to tag this that really doesn't do justice or explain a lot behind it.
1) This is not an "old legal document" - it's a judge's opinion in a motion for summary judgement that was issued this week. The deposition itself was likely taken in a last few years, during the ongoing lawsuit between PSU and their insurers.
2) The reasons it is one line is because it's a judge's opinion on a motion for summary judgement. The issue that the judge was ruling on related to the 1976 incident was whether a director, officer, or shareholder at Penn State knew of the incident, which would have given them a duty to report to the insurance company. If they knew but failed to report it could negate the insurance company's liability to cover PSU. Because Paterno and assistant coaches are NOT directors, officers, or shareholders they could not have triggered this. So the judge doesn't go into a lot of detail on it because there is no legal reason to do so. Simply put, there is no allegation that anyone higher up than Paterno knew.
3) However, in order to get that far the insurance company had to investigate this, and the victim himself would have to be deposed. The judge cites to the depositions in his opinion (it's footnote 2). Unfortunately for us, the depositions are still sealed.
4) Obviousy this is not proof. Nor are other allegations. But that doesn't mean coupled with other evidence (see the two reports last night related to other allegations), there is some strong circumstancial evidence PSU coaches knew for a while. I've said it elsewhere, it's enough for me to make up my mind. I'm not on a criminal jury, so my level of proof is lower.
There is a lot more to this I'm sure, and I'm willing to bet the insurance company knew that they were never going to win the MSJ on the 1976 Paterno allegation anyway, but knew that by the judge ruling on it that it would become public. Legal defeat there, but PR victory.
It's hard to decipher what to do or if anything can be done. We are using today's standards to punish yester-years crimes. It doesn't diminish the crime, but the standards by how we judge it are changed. Along that same path, we can't punish the current team for teams of decades past immoralities. Todays team is connected in name only and the institution has to move forward. One man in the ground with a legacy destroyed and one in prison until he is in the ground. Damage done to all and it can't be un-done. Settlements have been made. It's over. Lets move forward.